Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun admits culture is ‘far from perfect’

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun He will tell US lawmakers on Tuesday that he understands concerns about safety culture after a mid-air emergency in January sparked concern.

In prepared remarks ahead of a US Senate subcommittee hearing, he said: “Our culture is far from perfect, but we are taking action and making progress. We understand the seriousness of this.”

The company has been in the spotlight since an unused door fell off a brand-new 737 MAX plane during a flight operated by Alaska Airlines, leaving a gaping hole in its side.

As part of the ongoing investigation, Boeing whistleblowers told the Senate in April that the 737 MAX, 787 Dreamliner and 777 models had serious production problems.

But concerns about Boeing’s attitudes toward safety and quality control conditions at its factories are not new.

The company faced intense criticism five years ago, after two 737 MAX planes were lost in two separate but nearly identical accidents, killing 346 people.

Mr Calhoun is also expected to apologize to affected families on Tuesday, in what will be his first time giving evidence before the committee during his time as CEO.

“We are deeply sorry for your losses,” his prepared opening caption reads. “Nothing is more important than the safety of the people who board our aircraft.”

He became CEO of Boeing in 2020 when the company was reeling from the effects of fatal accidents.

In October 2018, a Lion Air crash temporarily grounded the Boeing 737 Max.

All 189 people on board died after the plane crashed into the Java Sea 13 minutes after take-off from Jakarta, Indonesia.

In March 2019, an Ethiopian Airlines plane, a Boeing 737 MAX, crashed six minutes after taking off from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

All 157 people on board were killed, and both crashes were linked to faulty flight control systems.

Since the 2018 and 2019 incidents, family members of those killed, some of whom are still working to resolve legal claims against the company, have spoken out.

Many of them plan to attend Tuesday’s hearing.

Zipporah Correia, who lost her father in a 2019 plane crash, is one of them.

“I flew from England to Washington, D.C., to hear in person what Boeing’s CEO had to tell the Senate and the world about any safety improvements being made at that company,” she said in a statement before the hearing.

She added: “We will not rest until we see justice.”

Speaking before Tuesday’s hearing, Senator Richard Blumenthal, who chairs the committee, said in a statement: “Boeing must fix its broken safety culture, and that is the administration’s task ahead of us.”

He added: “Years of putting profits before safety, stock price before quality, and production speed before responsibility have brought Boeing to this moment of reckoning, and its empty promises can no longer stand.”

Dave Calhoun, Boeing’s outgoing CEO who also served as its president for the past four years, said in his prepared remarks that he was “grateful” that there were no fatalities during the Alaska Airlines incident.

“I come from this industry, and I know full well that this is an industry that we simply must get right, every time,” he wrote.

He also added that following the incident, the company cooperated with investigations by US authorities, as well as listening to employees and holding “vigils” at factories to address any potential problems.

In May, the company also submitted to regulators a plan aimed at improving the quality of its aircraft.